News of Note

Costco stops buying pork from farm shown in undercover video
Costco Wholesale of Issaquah has stopped carrying meat from one of the country’s largest pork producers, where an undercover video released this week showed live piglets being thrown across large distances and castrated without painkillers.

Seattle broadens dangerous dog ordinance
An amended city ordinance could make it easier for animal control officers to euthanize or banish dangerous dogs from the city. “So it’s a technical change, but it’s not going to make it any easier for the city to declare an animal dangerous,” Jordan said. “We’re not going to be looking at a situation where more animals are going to be put down.”

Can a vegan do the Tour de France?
Zabriskie, who is six foot tall and weighs just over 10 stone (about 63kg), will eat no meat, eggs or dairy products, despite cyclists usually needing to consume 8,000 calories a day during the race – in part by scoffing large portions of meat in order to replace lost protein. But the 32-year-old believes he has had his most successful season since adopting his new diet last year.

Vegan Wine Making Gains With Consumers
“Vegan wines are quite often of a higher standard because they have been produced with a lot of care,” he added. “It’s not the easiest or cheapest way to produce wine but it means we preserve the character of the grapes by treating them as gently and respectfully as we can.”

Angry Birds: Crows Never Forget Your Face
Crows remember the faces of threatening humans and often react by scolding and bringing in others to mob the perceived miscreant. “Others have shown that some crows make and use tools, forecast future events, understand what other animals know, and — in our case — learn from individual experience as well as by observing parents and peers,” Marzluff explained. “These are all advanced cognitive tasks shown by only a few animals.”

New Jersey emergency preparedness includes animals
New Jersey officials were already planning for the problem when Hurricane Katrina barreled into New Orleans six years ago. The Gulf Coast disaster not only left countless people homeless but also killed or stranded hundreds of thousands of pets. Some residents refused to leave dogs, cats, and other animals – and died with them.